NEWS OF NOTE FROM PITT: Pitt Students Win State Planning Award for Analysis of Pittsburgh’s Quality of Life, Teaching Award to Provide State-of-the-Art Labs and Equipment for Pitt’s Department of Computer Science

PITTSBURGH—Behind the larger stories about the University of Pittsburgh are other stories of faculty, staff, and student achievements as well as information on Pitt programs reaching new levels of success. The following is a compilation of those stories.

Pitt Students Win State Planning Award for Analysis of Pittsburgh’s Quality of Life  

The Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) has chosen a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) capstone class project to receive its 2011 Student Project Award. The award was announced during the chapter’s 2011 annual conference Oct. 18 in Scranton, Pa.

This is the sixth time GSPIA associate professor Sabina Deitrick’s capstone class report has been recognized by APA’s Pennsylvania chapter.

This year’s award-winning Pitt project, “Pittsburgh in the 21st Century: A Decade of Difference,” examined changes in the region since the late 1990s across such indicators as education, diversity, outdoor amenities, social media, environmental improvements, and migration patterns. It analyzed perceptions against current indicators by comparing Richard Florida’s Competing in the Age of Talent: Environment, Amenities, and the New Economy (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2000) to Pittsburgh-Post Gazette columnist Brian O’Neill’s recent book, The Paris of Appalachia: Pittsburgh in the 21st Century (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2009). 

The report stated Pittsburgh has reinvented itself over the decades and is poised for its reemergence on the national scene as one of America’s leading cities. The report states “the next generation of leadership in our area has a solid foundation on which to expand, but crucial improvements must be made to keep pace.”

Deitrick said the project provides an opportunity to have students studying public affairs and urban affairs apply the skills and theories they learn in the classroom to community issues and concerns.

“The Greater Pittsburgh area is a terrific place to study and understand urban affairs and change,” Deitrick said. “The students bring a tremendous amount of enthusiasm when it comes to studying the place they enjoy living in. Capstone class reports give them the opportunity to bring the GSPIA curriculum to bear on the areas they want to pursue in their professional careers.”

For more information, contact Pitt News Representative Audrey M. Marks at 412-624-4238 (office), 832-296-7276 (cell), marksa@pitt.edu.  

Teaching Award to Provide State-of-the-Art Labs and Equipment for Pitt’s Department of Computer Science

The University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Computer Science in the School of Information Sciences has been selected as a 2011-12 Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) Teaching Center by NVIDIA, the world leader in visual and high-performance computing. This award recognizes institutions that have integrated and shown a commitment to teaching parallel computing, an architectural concept that allows computers to simultaneously run very large programs and multiple applications on multiple processing units.    

“We’re honored to receive this award,” said Sangyeun Cho, associate professor of computer science and author of the CUDA proposal. “With the changing demands of computer uses, we encourage our students to gain experience with higher level programming languages for parallel computing, such as CUDA C/C++.” 

As a recognized CUDA Teaching Center, the University will receive more than $25 thousand worth of CUDA-enabled graphics processing units, a commonly used device for creating strong visuals on mobile phones, computers, and game consoles. Funding will also support a teaching assistant, an expansive CUDA teaching kit that includes textbooks and software licenses, as well as access to NVIDIA’s remotely accessible testing for students to assess their CUDA programming skills. Additional hardware will be provided upon request. 

About NVIDIA

NVIDIA revolutionized the world of computer graphics when it invented the GPU in 1999. Today, its processors power a broad range of products from smart phones to supercomputers. NVIDIA’s mobile processors are used in phones, tablets, and auto infotainment systems. PC gamers rely on GPUs to enjoy spectacularly immersive worlds. Professionals use them to create visual effects in movies and design everything from golf clubs to jumbo jets. And researchers utilize GPUs to advance the frontiers of science with high-performance computers. The company holds more than 2,100 patents worldwide, including ones covering ideas essential to modern computing. For more information, visit www.nvidia.com.

For more information, contact Pitt News Representative B. Rose Huber at 412-624-4356 (office), 412-328-6008 (cell), rhuber@pitt.edu.

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10/26/11/mab/lks/jdh